Envelope



Dec. 26, 1950 v. E. HEYwooD ENVELOPE Filed April 25, 1947 .ooooooomf/W/vooooooooooooooo .IIA llllll Patented Dec. 26, 17950 ENVELOPE.

Vincent EnHeywoodf., Worcester, Mass., assigner to United.V States; Envelope field, Mass., a. corporation of. Maine Company, Spring- Application April' 25, 1947', Serial'No. 743,775 I Claim. (Cl. 229-80)- This invention relates tothe provision, in4 vari' ous articles. of paper*v or similar sheet material, of an improved.y adhesive or likey connection-- be tween overlapped portions'. of such materials, which connection is so constituted that its breakage (for example` in the act of opening a sealed envelope, bag or the like) may be accomplished in the absence of undue mutilation/of' the materials surface or surfaces, resulting either from the Stringing or shredding of surfacebres or from the peeling or defacement of any surface coating or printing thereon.

Theneed for suona clean-breaking connection ory union between overlapped adhesively-joined layersof material is` present in awide variety of paper or like articles, such as certain typesof envelopes whose seal iiaps are extended to form pull tabs, for quick-opening purposes, as well as .many other temporarily-sealed paper structures in which shredding and extended surface mutilation, in the act of opening or unsealing, would be undesirable. My invention provides a novel and inexpensive arrangement by which to eliminate substantially all such surface mutilation, in the act of pulling apart or unsealing a pair of stucktogether layers of paper or like sheet material. Other and further objects and advantages of my invention will be made apparent from the following detailed description of a specific embodiment thereof, as an example of its utility, reference being had in this connection to the accompanying illustrative drawings, in which Fig. l is a plan view showing the application of my invention to an envelope of the duplex churchcollection type, the envelope being shown with its closure flap in open or unsealed position.

Fig. 2 is a similar View showing a portion of such envelope with its closure ap sealed down.

Fig. 3 shows the envelope portion of Fig. 2 after the closure flap has been pulled loose and lifted.

Fig. 4 is a sectional View on line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in the different figures. Y

My invention is applicable to a wide variety of uses and purposes; one such use is in connection with church-collection envelopes of the general type shown in Figs. l-4 inclusive, to obtain a certain and clean-tearing lifting of the envelopes sealed-down closure flap, for the unobstructed discharge of the contents thereof. The envelope shown in Fig. 1 has a pocket portion of conventional duplex construction, the same being made from a one piece blank providing a front wall l and an opposite rear wall 2, which latter is here I,shown as formed by the overlap and permanent adhesive connection of a back flap 3, to apair of infolded opposite end flaps 4, 4'.. The: pocket con@ struction may provide, in the usual manner, a; permanent adhesive connection shown by broken lines 5, between the inside surfaces of walls l. andi 2, therebyV to divide the pocket space into two com;- partments, each adapted to receive the. coinsy ori other contributions which the giver wishes to-fallot to. two4 different designated church activities,` Also, as usual, the front and rear walls I and 2, as well as. the envelopes integral closure flap.1',

may have a line of perforations e, midway of the.

interior adhesive stripe 5, tol facilitate separation ofthe compartments (see Fig. 2) by the church. treasurer or other party who handles the collec-- tions, so. that compartments containing the gifts or contributions for one cause or` activity can be segregated fromy those designated for the other cause or activity, prior to the emptying of the two sets of compartments.

The integral closure flap 1, common to the two compartments is adapted to be folded on the line 8 after its seal gum 9 has been moistened, to enable it to be stuck down in compartmentclosing position, against the back wall 2. It is common practice, as shown, to provide the seal gum 9 in two separate spots, one for each compartment, the gum areas terminating short of the free edge of flap 1 so that the latter, beyond said areas, is left on each compartment as a free and unstuck pull tab, for seizure by the church treasurer or other party entrusted with the collections, for the lifting or pulling -loose of the sealed-down flap portion 1, in the act of emptying of the separate compartments. But such conventional adhesive connection frequently imposes a definite obstacle to rapid emptying of the compartments, because the act of lifting or pulling loose the sealed-down closure flap causes more or less shredding or Stringing of the paper bres across the mouth of the pocket; in other words, there is no assurance of a clean tearing-apart of the areas that are stuck together by the spots of moistened adhesive 9 when upward pull is exerted on the free edge portion of the flap 1.

My invention overcomes this difficulty in a simple yet effective way. As shown in Figs. l to 4 inclusive, I provide the material of the flap 1, adjacent to and slightly spaced from each gum spot 9, with a row of slits l0 substantially parallel to the fold 8, and between said fold and the associated gum spot. The effect of such slits is to provide a positive stop against the above described shredding or Stringing of the paper bres in the act of lifting the flap 1 and breaking its adhesion with the envelope wall. That is to say, the shredding or stringing cannot, under any circumstances, be continued beyond said slits I0 (see Fig. 3), because the latter severs or parts the paper bres at this point. Consequently, the separation or lifting of ilap 'l is a clean-tearing operation that always leaves the mouth of the pocket or compartment free and unobstructed for the quick emptying of its contents, In other words, there are no strings or fibres of the paper left as an obstruction across the mouth of the compartment, because of the fact that any shred 9 pulled loose on the flap 7 encounters the slits I0 and breaks away cleanly in that region; while any shred from the back wall material is terminated at the latters upper edge. I am aware that it is old practice, in envelopes and like paper structures having limited-area adhesive connections between overlapped layers of the material,

to provide in one layer a slit or slits, lying between such an adhesive connection and a free edge portion or tab of the outer layer, so that separation of said layers in response to lifting of or pulling'on said free edge portion occurs, not by breakage apart of their adhesively-joined surfaces, but by tearing of the material from the ends of the slit or slits; arrangements of this character are disclosed in the patents to Bear et al. No. 2,001,340, Ramsey No. 2,083,158 and Goff No. 2,363,957. I make no claim to such tear- .-3.

promoting slits that leave the adhesive connections intact, nor do I claim, in the case of two overlapped and adhesively-connected layers of material, the scoring or slitting of both of said layers, adjacent their areas of adhesive connection, as disclosed in the patent to Cook No. 576,552, but what I do claim and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is as follows:

Iclaim:

As a new article of manufacture, an envelope having front and rear walls forming between them a pocket which is open along one edge of said rear wall, the front wail having along its corresponding edge an extension foldable on a line parallel and adjacent to said rear wall edge, into overlapping relation with said rear wall, for

- the closure of said pocket, said extension carrying a limited area of moistenable adhesive for holding it in its folded-over pocket-closing position, said adhesive being spaced inwardly from the free edge of said extension, to leave said free edge as a pull tab for use in pulling said overlapped and adhesively-connected parts asunder, for the opening of said pocket, and the material of only said extension having a row of slits substantially parallel with said fold line and between said fold line and said adhesive area, whereby in the pulling asunder of said parts, any shredding of said extensions material is terminated by said slits, and any shredding of the rear wall material is terminated by the latters edge.

VINCENT E. HEY'WOOD.

REFERENCES CITED riihe following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 576,552 Cook Feb. 9, 1897 2,001,340 Bear et al. Mayy 14, 1935 V2,189,273 Shoemaker Feb. 6, 1940 2,363,957 Golf Nov. 28, 1944 

